KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — More than RM130 million of outstanding payment from advertising and billboards has yet to be paid to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed today.The PAC’s report tabled on DBKL’s advertisement licences and billboards management, which was reported in the Auditor-General’s 2013 Report Series 2, found that the outstanding payment until December 2012 comprised RM128.14 million for premise signage advertisement fees and RM10.21 million for billboard licence fees.AdvertisementPAC also said that the information system that was set up to store data on advertisement and billboard licences, “e-lesen”, which cost RM1.9 million, was found to be inaccurate and an RM1.6 million Billboard Management System (BMS) had input and installation problems.“Information system for advertisement licenses and billboards management in Kuala Lumpur should be streamlined and improved to overcome the shortcomings,” PAC chairman Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin said in a statement today. He added that DBKL must ensure that the process of giving contracts to companies who handle advertising billboards in Kuala Lumpur is done publicly to ensure transparency“Tender system for billboard and signage in Kuala Lumpur should also be streamlined,” he said.”The enforcement for illegal advertisement and signages in Kuala Lumpur should also be strengthened and stern action must be taken to ensure more returns to City Hall,” he said, adding that the local authority should also ensure non-compliance regulations on the matter.The PAC also recommended that DBKL’s internal audit unit (UAD) report to the local authority’s board of advisers, instead of to the mayor, to prevent a conflict of interest.“The parliamentary PAC believes that UAD’s mechanism of reporting directly to the mayor can risk their independence and as such, needs to be reviewed,” said the PAC.Read more at http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/pac-dbkl-yet-to-collect-rm138m-advertising-billboard-revenue#xOooujtiZEe5fgvV.99

(The Star) – The controversial billboard publicising the German beer festival Oktoberfest scheduled this weekend at a shopping mall has been declared illegal.Shah Alam Mayor Datuk Mohd Jaafar Mohd Attan said promotional activities of the event including the putting up of the billboard did not received the approval from the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA).“The Mentri Besar will make the necessary announcement after his exco meeting as I had already brief him on the matter.“Everyone has been advised to be extra careful and sensitive as we are living in a multicultural and multi-ethnic society,” he told reporters at the Hari Raya Aidil Adha programme at the Wisma MBSA on Wednesday.He also noted that the there were no applications to put up the billboard and it had been brought down by the local authorities.Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali said that he had received all the response from MBSA and will discuss the matter during the exco meeting.“We will make an announcement later today,” he said.It was reported that PAS is upset over the event and has demanded that the Selangor state government to relocate or cancel the event.PAS exco member for the Infrastructure, Public Amenities and Agricultural portfolio said events organised on a big scale and advertised openly on billboards and at supermarkets clearly go against societal norms, including those of all religions.Held since 1810, the Oktoberfest is claimed to be the world’s largest festival and is held annually in Munich, Germany. Other major cities also hold Oktoberfest celebrations.PAS central committee member and Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan also slammed the festival on his Facebook page on Monday, calling it a vice that the Federal and state government should curb.

JALAN Syed Putra is not only renowned for its congestion, but is a highly sought-after location for billboards.But, curiously, among the many billboards that dot this busy stretch, there are quite a few that advertising events that are long past their dates.For instance, there is a huge billboard splashed in yellow that is looking a little faded and not just a bit worn-out.It features a photography event that happened more than a year ago.

image: https://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/online/2017/04/30/20/40/metd_sg_0105_adbill0903_pg2_add_sheila_1pdf.ashx?h=397&w=620&la=enAn old billboard in Jalan Syed Putra is an eyesore and DBKL can compel the owner or operator to replace it with information promoting public campaigns.

There are similar billboards along other major roads in the city showing events and exhibitions that have long been over.Still legalAccording to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Socio-Economic Development Department executive director Datuk Ibrahim Yusof said, it is neither illegal nor wrong for billboards to display outdated advertisements in the city.

He said they did not contravene the Advertisements (Federal Territory) 1982 by-laws.“Time-bound billboards are not illegal.“Billboard contracts typically run for three years, irrespective of whether the event advertised is over or not, as long as the permit is paid. During that period the billboard belongs to the operator.“However, if the events being advertised ended two years ago or longer, then DBKL would usually advise the billboard owner to replace it with civic messages or information to publicise campaigns run by the Government.

image: https://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/online/2017/04/30/20/40/metd_sg_0105_adbill2504_pg2_sheila_7pdf.ashx?h=425&w=620&la=enThis billboard advertising an event that took place in January is yet to be replaced.

“We cannot compel them to remove the old advertisements but we will send a friendly reminder to the companies.”“The messages could be on the ‘Love Kuala Lumpur’ campaign or gentle reminders to city folk to pay their assessment fees and information on the upcoming SEA Games,” he added.Case for action“But if the billboard has become an eyesore or is left blank, DBKL can compel the owner or operator to remove the unsightly visual and replace it with civic messages promoting public campaigns,” said Ibrahim.

image: https://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/online/2017/04/30/20/40/metd_sg_0105_adbill2504_pg2_sheila_2.ashx?h=926&w=620&la=enDBKL can give owners of blank billboards 14 days to replace them with civic messages or announcements.

“We will give them 14 days notice to replace it with a civic message or announcement.“If they fail to act, we will give them one more week as a final warning to bring down the structure.“If they still ignore us, we will cancel their permit, confiscate the deposit and dismantle the structure that will then be auctioned as scrap metal,” he said.Security deposits range between RM3,000 and RM30,000 depending on the billboard size.Law and orderIbrahim said the local authority’s law on free-standing advertisements was outdated as it was last reviewed 15 years ago.“The current law is not favourable to us, but now is not the time to review it; it is something that we are looking into changing when the time is right,” he disclosed.Based on statistics until Dec 31, 2016, there are 681 legal billboards in Kuala Lumpur including free standing (on ground), overhead pedestrian bridges, flyover parapet, wall banners, sky sign, gantry ads, pillar wraps and LED ads.

image: https://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/online/2017/04/30/20/40/metd_sg_0105_adbill0903_pg2_new_sheila_1pdf.ashx?h=956&w=620&la=enTime-bound billboards are not illegal as long as permits are paid.

However, industry sources estimate the number of free-standing billboards in the city to be in the thousands.DBKL is currently carrying out a census to streamline all billboard advertisements in the city to identify the legal from the illegal ones.The licensing fee for billboards is dependent upon its size. The first square metre is RM500 and every subsequent metre is RM80.Unlike most city councils for which billboards are a major revenue earner, the potential revenue for DBKL is small. Its income from billboard licensing last year was only RM4mil.Ibrahim pointed out that billboard operators did not want to spend money on removing outdated advertisements without a new client.Billboard advertising company VR Globalink director Rebecca Ng said the onus was on media owners to take responsibility and promptly remove any outdated advertisement on their billboards once the tenure period has expired.However, she is of the opinion that DBKL should also carry out enforcement to encourage billboard owners to be more responsive.“The reality is that companies leave outdated advertisements on their billboards to avoid incurring extra costs,” she stated.The way forwardDBKL has privatised the management of free-standing billboard contracts to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP), the welfare arm of the Federal Territories Ministry, since last year.Under the deal, DBKL receives revenue from rental of the site, visuals and 35% in profit-sharing from the rental of permit.Ibrahim said the decision to privatise (billboard licensing) was in response to the revelation of weaknesses in the local authority’s data collection system.In 2013, the Auditor-General reported that DBKL’s licensing process was inadequately managed. Following that report, a Public Accounts Committee was established to address the issue.DBKL was chided for not collecting an estimated RM128mil in advertising licence revenue up to the end of 2013.According to the Audit Department, the estimated overall proceeds between 2010 and 2013 were RM62mil but DBKL only collected RM52mil.It was suggested that lax enforcement and shoddy management system for the collection of revenue from advertisements and billboards resulted in the shortfall.TAGS / KEYWORDS:Central Region , KL Billboard Ads

​By Michael SmitStaff WriterThose driving north on South China Lake Boulevard will be treated to a new billboard designed by Gateway Elementary third grader Evelyn MacNeil. The billboard is designed to promote water conservation. It features a picture of a superhero, an hour glass dripping water, and large letters saying “Save Water.” It appears to have been originally drawn in crayon.The idea for the billboard came about when Sun Outdoor Advertising partnered with IWV Water District to put the billboard up. IWVWD general manager Don Zdeba said that Sun Outdoor Advertising put the billboard up free of charge as part of the company’s community outreach program.MacNeil’s picture was chosen from a pool of many drawings submitted by elementary students around Ridgecrest. Zdeba told the Daily Independent that the water district invited schools in the Sierra Sands Unified School District to take part in a contest to win the spot on the billboard.The contest received multiple individual submissions, as well as two classes participating from Gateway Elementary and one class from Ridgecrest Charter School.MORE VIDEO:Junior division first place winner Geoffry Brown performs in the Exchange Club Search for Talent May 13 at the Old Town Theater. Over 25 acts competed for 9 prizes in three categories. Brown took home a trophy and $200 in prize money for his performance.Zdeba said that, to choose the winner, both Todd Hansen of Sun Outdoor Advertising and staff from the water district chose their list of top five pictures from the pool of submissions, then decided on a winner from that list.MacNeil won the space on the billboard, but many other students also got the chance to put their water conservation art on display. Zdeba said they also printed a 16 month calendar featuring MacNeil’s picture on the month of January, then art from 15 other students on the other months. He stated that the water district is giving away the calendars at their office at 500 W Ridgecrest Blvd.The billboard currently stands at the northeast quarter of the intersection between S China Lake Boulevard and Bowman Road, facing south. It will stay there for two more weeks until that billboard location needs to be cleared away, at which point MacNeil’s billboard will more to Inyokern Road through the rest of the Summer. At the end of the Summer, Sun Outdoor Advertising will donate it to Gateway Elementary.

​By Ruelle Albert CastroMay 26, 2017Billboard placements on the stretch of EDSA trump placements in other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila as the 24-kilometer highway corners nearly half of outdoor ad spending for the first quarter of the year.

A study by consumer and market research firm Strategic Consumer and Media Incites (SMCI) showed that EDSA placements accounted for 43.9 percent of the P2 billion billboard ad spending for the first three months of the year, followed by South Luzon Expressway with 21.2 percent share and North Luzon Expressway completing the top three with 19.8 percent.

Eric Barrera, SMCI client service director, said a total of 3,655 sites with ad placements were monitored for the period covering 12 major thoroughfares in Metro Manila.

The SMCI study, the first of such scale in the country, revealed 15 percent of ad spend is poured into secondary roads like Ortigas, Commonwealth avenue, Roxas boulevard, Quezon avenue, Espana, Quezon boulevard, NAIA road and Marcos Highway.

A 2013 study said there are more than 300,000 vehicles that pass through EDSA everyday.

The survey covered 800 respondents in Metro Manila, aged 13 to 60 years from all social classes in the metro.

“The mix of product categories in billboard advertising appears to be those that are essential to lifestyle and not about basic needs as evident in the proportion of lifestyle categories cornering the major shares in ad spending on this medium,” said Barrera.

SCMI study shows lifestyle products and services dominated products advertised on billboards in the first quarter with spending of up to P285.20 million. Fashion boutique brands, real estate, banks and financial services, passenger cars and over-the-counter drugs are the top five billboard spenders.

“The lowest spending for these products is at P53 million,” said SMCI.

In terms of the actual brand, the top 10 spenders for the first quarter are Suyen Corp., Jollibee, San Miguel Corp., Tiara Commercial, Robinsons, Pepsi Cola, SM Devt Corp., Golden ABC, Vida Nutriscience and Iflix with spending between P22 million to P115 million each.

“Top products on billboard ads include brands such as Bench, SMC, Jollibee, Rob, Penshoppe, Iflix, SMDC, Chowking, Gibi and Mcdonald’s with a total spending of P19 million to P106 million,” SCMI said.

“The advertising clutter is more glaring at the level of brand names. The list of top brand players is longer than what are usually observed in core media. Each top brand could achieve only a single digit in the share of advertising spend,” Barrera added.

SCMI admitted billboards have a downside, mostly concerns on security and obstruction.

Barrera , however, said billboards are not a distraction to drivers.

The study also showed popular brands maintain strong presence in billboard ads, among them clothing line Bench and food and food giants Jollibee and Coke.

“Telecommunications firm Smart and Globe and fastfood multinational McDonalds follow in terms of managing presence in billboard ads. Bearbrand (milk), Chowking (fastfood), Marlboro (cigarettes) and Samsung (electronics) are also on top 10 of popular billboard ads,” SCMI said.

The SCMI study also revealed that the working population are mostly out on travel from 5 p.m. onwards.

Out of home travels peak between 6 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.

Barrera pointed out thought that while out of home placement is increasingly becoming a popular platform, television still dominates the media platforms for advertising followed by mobile. Out of home advertising ranks third.

“SCMI believes there will be an increase in demand to measure audience exposure of out of home ads due to its steady rise in popularity,” the company said.Category: Business News

​Robert Landau will present a slideshow of historic billboards, along with stories of the counterculture era, at 7:30 pm. on April 26 at the West Hollywood Council Chambers. And you can see an outdoor exhibition of Landau’s photos at 8775 Sunset Boulevard throughout 2017. More info atwww.rockandrollbillboards.com

​BY RYKE LONGEST It’s TV on a stick. That’s how detractors usually describe digital billboards, but really, the phrase is too generous. You can turn off your TV. You don’t have that kind of control over a digital billboard. If you drive a public road where digital billboards are allowed, you are forced to have it in your peripheral vision. Some drivers find it nearly impossible not to glance at glowing, hi-resolution signs with ads changing every six seconds.Many of North Carolina’s cities have avoided the blight of digital billboards by adopting local regulations restricting them - both because they’re painfully ugly and because they’re designed to take drivers’ eyes off the road. But now our freedom from those distracting eyesores is in danger.The billboard industry is back for more from the NC General Assembly. Legislators are considering several new billboard bills this session that could have significant detrimental impacts on North Carolina’s roads and highways (HB 173, HB 578, HB 579, HB 580, and HB 581). HB 581 is before the Finance Committee.The provisions being considered would eliminate local control over digital billboards and allow up to 10 digital billboards per mile. Recent studies have shown that digital billboards are not just distracting, they are dangerous. The studies from the University of Alabama showed that over half of drivers under 20 were likely to take a long glance at digital billboards, while a third of drivers over 65 were likely to slow down to look at the digital billboards.Even if the digital billboard provisions were removed, these bills are bad for North Carolina’s scenic beauty. Other provisions would remove local control over billboard height, allow the cutting of state-owned trees in front of billboards and allow billboards to be relocated from one part of the community to another, even if local ordinances currently prohibit it.And that’s not all. These proposed provisions would dramatically increase the amount of money that state and local governments would have to pay to billboard owners if public works projects like schools or highway construction required condemnation or relocation of billboards, effectively providing a taxpayer subsidized bailout of the billboard industry.The financial impacts from these changes could be significant. A similar change to the law in Minnesota forced the state to pay Clear Channel $4 million to eliminate four billboards as part of a bridge reconstruction project. What’s worse, the removal of one digital billboard for the same project required Minnesota taxpayers to fork over an additional $4.3 million to the billboard company. Our legislative leaders have raked in political contributions from this industry for years, but have not even bothered to study the costs of these bills before running them through.One of North Carolina’s top regional planning achievements has been ensuring that I-40 promotes a positive regional image with no billboards and lots of landscaping. Except for a few near S. Saunders Street in Raleigh, there are no billboards on I-40 between I-85 in Orange County and Benson in Johnston County, a distance of more than 60 miles. In many other places, the journey from the airport to the city is almost always a billboard alley, but not in the Triangle.HB 581 would threaten our regional image by overriding local ordinances and allowing billboards to be placed on I-40. The bill allows a billboard located in one part of a jurisdiction to be relocated to another part of the jurisdiction. For instance, a billboard on US 70 in Durham, US 1 in Raleigh, or I-95 in Johnston County could be moved to a billboard-free section of I-40. Our roads and highways serve as the front porch of our state. North Carolina’s natural beauty is one of our greatest assets; don’t let the General Assembly sell out our state’s roadways to support a struggling billboard industry. Our elected representatives should know better than to put TVs out on our state’s front porch.Ryke Longest is a member of the Board of Directors of Scenic America and the former chair of its Legal Committee. Longest is also a Clinical Professor of Law at Duke School of Law.

​For the second year, the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County is raising art to new heights while sprucing up the roadways in and around Winston-Salem.Five works have been chosen for ArtPop, one of the council’s Art in Unexpected Places initiatives, and last week they went up on billboards owned by Fairway Outdoor Advertising.“The highways become a gallery for everyone to experience art,” said Jim Sparrow, president and chief executive of the arts council.Photographs of the original artwork are printed on 14-by-48-foot vinyl sheets and displayed on billboards on major arteries in a 13-county region as the space becomes available.This year’s works, which range from abstract and provocative to representational, are:

The work will be on display throughout the coming 12 months, with locations changing based on the availability of billboards.“By partnering with Fairway Outdoor Advertising, we can take art to hundreds of thousands of travelers in and around our community,” Sparrow said. “These amazing works of art will delight all who see them as they go about other daily activities.”The arts council pays for the creation of the artwork on the billboards, and Fairway is contributing the outdoor advertising space.There were 42 submissions, and works were chosen through a juried process chaired by Cheryl Lindsay of Hanesbrands and an arts council board member. Other members of the panel were Saul Guinto Salinas, Que Pasa Media Network; Rosa Otero, Salem College art department; Tammy Evans, Winston-Salem State University, Department of Art + Visual Studies; Laura Hortal, Forsyth Technical Community College department chair — Humanities, Fine Arts and Communication; Tiara Reynolds, Fairway Outdoor Advertising art director; and Wendy Hickey, ArtPopStreet Gallery founder.Artists in Forsyth, Stokes, Davidson, Surry, Davie and Yadkin counties were eligible to enter.The arts council is also partnering with ArtPopStreetGallery of Charlotte, which created the program in 2014. The first official ArtPop program displayed works by 20 local artists on donated billboard space.The artists don’t get paid, but they will get a mini-version of their billboards — about 10 inches wide and 7 inches tall.And they get to see their artwork bigger than life as they drive the highways and byways in and around the City of Arts and Innovation

​BRENTWOOD — A coalition of concerned residents are moving forward with a plan to advertise a “warning sign” for East Contra Costa County’s inadequate fire funding.The group is looking to raise $1,770 for six months of a billboard advertisement that would say “WARNING: Entering a Public Safety Danger Zone! EMS and Fire Services inadequately funded! Proceed at your own risk!”Some also want to add a skull and crossbones for extra emphasis.Related Articles

The billboard location, or possibly locations, would be along major access routes into the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District’s 240-square-mile coverage area: Vasco Road and eastbound Highway 4.The idea originated with a civic-minded Brentwood resident, Peggy Hart, who passed away in late April.“She was a great person who cared about others and she was also a practical person,” said Greg Hart, husband of Peggy Hart. “She was pretty into (this idea) and they were talking about all the developments going up and that there wasn’t adequate fire service to begin with.”In May, the state’s Department of Finance released data placed Brentwood’s population growth at 3.38 percent in 2016, which made it the fourth fastest growing city in the Bay Area and the 10th fastest in California in 2016. Oakley placed eighth in the Bay Area and 45th in the state with the population growing 2.16 percent.“Peggy and several of her friends were playing cards and it just popped into her head and she said ‘we should put up a sign’,” said Kris Christensen, who took over organizing funds for the billboard following Peggy’s death. “We’re all so frustrated that nothing is getting done.”Christensen said she can be contacted at krischris48@yahoo.com for any questions on their group.The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District’s funding problem has been a topic of debate in Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay and many towns within East Contra Costa County for over a decade.Over the last four years, voters within the district have shot down three attempts at raising additional revenue through taxes. On July 1, the district will close Station 94 in Knightsen, bringing the area back down to three fire stations: one station in southwest Brentwood, one station in central Oakley and one station in Discovery Bay.The goal, for the group, is to make new homeowners aware of what they are buying into, and to emphasize what it will cost, in both lives, insurance and home value.The Insurance Services Office classifies fire service in a community on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst. Areas in the district qualify for either a 4 or a 10. If a home is five miles from a fire station and within 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant, then it qualifies for a 4.Nancy Kincaid, press secretary for the California Department of Insurance, said that there are no laws that require insurance is affordable, but only that it is fair, adequate and justified.“Companies can set their rates, based on modelling and it may be that they can justify the rates because the risk has changed so dramatically,” Kincaid said. “They write down how far you are from a fire station, how far from a fire hydrant, how many stations there are… proximity to fire protection is very important.”Kincaid said that most buyers look for homes with curb appeal, a good school and low crime, but that people should also look at the cost of insurance before they get hit with “sticker shock” on the price.Residents can look through the California Department of Insurance’s homeowner comparison tool by going to http://bit.ly/CAinsurance. Kincaid also recommends that homeowners read their exclusions and consider making home improvements, such as enclosed eaves, a fire-resistant roof, or tempered glass windows.

​The city of Corona could gain almost $1 million in a precedent-setting lawsuit over an illegal billboard installed at night without state or local permits, but the legal battle may not be over just yet.A freeway-facing billboard with ads for Rockefellas and the Pala Casino was the subject of a lengthy tussle that led to a Riverside County Superior Court judge upholding the city’s 2004 ban on new billboards as legal under the U.S. and California constitutions, city officials announced recently.Corona’s attorneys won the city’s nuisance-abatement lawsuit while fending off counter-suits in state and federal courts from Alex M. Garcia, owner of Corona-based AMG Outdoor Advertising.Garcia set up a roughly 80-foot-high billboard without permits in the parking lot of Sid’s Carpet Barn at 3035 Palisades Drive, along a frontage road on the south side of the 91 Freeway, in December 2014.He then affixed 48-by-14-foot ads for Pala Casino and Rockefellas, a bar in Temescal Valley that he owns, said Assistant City Attorney John Higginbotham, who represented Corona in the legal fight.“It was very prominent. You could see it from over a mile away in both directions,” Higginbotham said.The judge ruled on the city’s nuisance-abatement case March 6. On May 3, the judge ordered Garcia to pay the city $807,000 in attorney fees, penalties and court costs.The city ban allowed billboards, or off-site outdoor advertising signs, that were in place when the ban was passed to stay up. The City Council can approve the moving of those grandfathered-in billboards in eminent domain cases – which happened during the 91 Freeway widening – rather than paying compensation.Corona’s relocation exception for grandfathered billboards has now become case law and can be cited as a precedent throughout California, Higginbotham said.But Garcia, who along with California Outdoor Equity Partners lost a 2015 lawsuit fighting Los Angeles’ billboard ban, said he was treated “unfairly” by Corona because other companies involved with relocating billboards are making the signs bigger and sometimes digitized, rather than just moving them.He said he plans to appeal.“Even though they’ve been awarded a summary judgment, it doesn’t mean that the case is over,” Garcia said.Los Angeles has also prevailed in its fights against several lawsuits challenging its 2002 ban on new billboards.Garcia’s case against that city “didn’t go anywhere,” said Dennis Hathaway, past president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight in Los Angeles.The coalition is part of the “scenic conservation movement” whose goal is to protect the visual environment from being saturated with outdoor advertising.Billboards are advertising that’s seen not just a few feet away from the property where it’s located, but over long distances that are part of public spaces and thus belong to the public, rather than the billboard industry, Hathaway contends.“We believe they should not have the right to claim that space for advertising,” he said.Corona has about 13 grandfathered billboards along the 91 and six to eight smaller ones throughout town.The city’s lawsuit was also filed against Sid’s Carpet Barn and a limited liability company, the technical property owner, although both are owned by Allan Ziman; and several other Corona property owners who have contracts with Garcia to erect billboards on their property.Ziman took the billboard down Dec. 3, 2015, after racking up $400,000 in fines. Ziman settled with the city for $158,600, Higginbotham said.